Boat industry hurricane damage will take months to assess

Published On: September 20, 2017Categories: Industry News, News

As reported in the Wall Street Journal, the total economic loss from hurricane boat damage won’t be known for months, according to Scott Croft, spokesperson for Boat Owners Association of the United States, or BoatUS, an advocacy group for recreational boaters. The largest concentration of damaged boats and docks from Hurricane Irma is expected to be in the Florida Keys. Vessels in the rest of the state fared better than expected, according to industry representatives and boat owners. However, Hurricane Harvey was “the worst [storm] in recent history” for boats and marinas in Texas, according to Ryan Miller, president of the Marina Association of Texas, who is quoted in the article. “We’ve heard from a number of our marina members that they are dealing with sunken boats and considerable losses.” He called the losses “devastating.”